The Treeline
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Katara takes Azula on her first camping trip.


"Comfy?" Katara asks.

Azula thinks for a moment, fingering the swirling blue geode pendant that decorates her neck. Katara wraps the blanket around them. "I think so." As comfortable as she can be for her first time camping. Azula leans against Katara, she feels the girls hands wrapped just beneath her chest and her legs curl around her own.

"Hey!" Katara exclaims suddenly. "Are you still wearing your boots?"

"Yes." Azula replies plainly.

"Why?" Katara laughs.

"I don't want my feet to get dirty."

"You can't wear them to sleep! Take those off."

Azula frowns for a moment before hesitantly unlacing her hiking boots and setting them aside in the corner of their tent. The tent itself is nicely decorated, in place of a carpet is a healthy helping of Katara's psychedelic patterned, boho blankets. There are matching pillows tossed everywhere. By the tent flaps, Katara has stung up a strand of tiny fairy lights. They give the tent an inviting warm glow. They remind Azula of the candles that she likes to burn in her room.

Azula can tell that it is getting dark outside. Despite her complaints about noise and a lack of sleep, she finds herself glad that Katara has chosen a more crowded campsite.

"Want to get the campfire started?" Katara asks.

"I just took my boots off."

Katara rolls her eyes. "You're in the great outdoors, I think that you can live with dirty feet for one night."

Azula wrinkles her nose at the suggestion, but before she can protest Katara is dragging her out of the tent. With her fully out of the tent, Katara re-enters it and emerges once more with marshmallows and hot a sigh, Azula puts aside her hatred of the dirt and grass beneath her bare feet and stoops over the kindling. A teeny blue flame ignites on her fingertips and their campfire blazes.

Katara's eyes light up and she holds a hotdog above the flame. She twirls it about for some time before withdrawing it. "Here you go."

Azula blinks. "That is on a stick."

"Very observant."

"That stick was on the ground."

Katara rolls her eyes. "Just take the hot dog! You can eat around the stick."

With more hesitance than when she had taken off her boots, Azula takes the stick. Katara is lucky that it is her birthday. She takes the first bite.

"Well?"

"It's...it's pretty good." She watches Katara place a golden-brown marshmallow between two graham crackers and a chunk of chocolate.

She catches Azula staring. "Want the first smore too?"

Azula ponders it and then holds her hand out, praying silently that there are no stick bits stuck within the marshmallow. As she eats it, Katara makes another for herself. She looks up, "Do I make good smores?"

Azula nods as she finishes the treat, she holds her hands away from anything that they might touch, "Sticky." She notes after swallowing.

"Yeah." Katara agrees. "You got something…" She trails off. "Here." She wipes at the corner of Azula's mouth and kisses her lips.

"Is this the part where we tell scary stories?"

Katara shudders. "I think I'll pass on those, you know that I'm no good with spooky stuff. Besides, I was hoping that we could do a bit of stargazing."

"I guess." Azula replies. "Hey, you know what else we might see?"

"What?"

Azula gives a smug smirk, "A UFO. We only have a small tent if the aliens decide to start abducting us one by one and…"

Katara nudges her, "stop it!"

"I bet that there's an alien watch us right now."

She nudges her harder, "cut it out." She laughs.

"Alright." Azula shrugs. "But when you see one of the aliens, don't say that I didn't warn you."

"Here, have another smore." Katara offered, her version of a witty plan to get Azula to quiet down.

The firebender looks at the treeline, she knows that Katara wants her to stare at the sky, but her eyes are drawn to the fireflies. She has never seen so many of them at one time. "Look at that, Katara!"

Katara jolts and Azula laughs. "What is it? Please don't tell me that you were right about the aliens."

Azula shakes her head. "No aliens. Have you ever seen so many fireflies?"

Katara nods. "You tend to see a lot of them when you camp all the time. I'm just hoping to finally see a shooting star or two."

**.oOo.**

Katara watches Azula pick out the fuzziest blanket and wrap herself up in it. She thinks that her girlfriend is enjoying herself. Complaining about having to use the bathroom like a medieval peasant aside, the firebender seems to be taking her first camping trip well.

She could deny it all she wanted, but Katara had seen the way her eyes lit up when she saw the first star fall. Or when a handful of fireflies drifted right in front of them.

"Mind if I join you?"

Azula wraps the blanket around the both of them. Katara rests her head on Azula's chest, listening to the steady beat of her heart. She feels the firebender's hands on her lower back. They are as relaxingly warm as she expects. "Thank you for coming camping with me."

Azula kisses the top of her head. "You're welcome."

Frankly she thinks that Azula agreeing to spend the night with her is better than the pricier presents that she had given her earlier that morning. Katara just hopes that her girlfriend will sleep well. "If you have trouble sleeping, we can go home." She offers for good measure.

She only gets a sleepy mumble in return.

"After all of that complaining…" Katara rolls her eyes. Despite it all, she smiles. She has a feeling that Azula will go camping with her again.


End file.
